HEALTHY BOUNDARIES PROGRAM - University of Toledo

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The Healthy Boundaries program provides a safe place to talk about relationships and to learn and practice healthy relationship skills. Participants learn that healthy relationships are based on equality and mutual respect. In a healthy relationship, each person’s can experience personal growth and the intimacy of healthy connectedness. The power in a healthy relationship is balanced. Healthy relationships happen when we actively respect each other’s rights. Participants realize that while conflict is inevitable in relationships, fear, threats and violence are not. Healthy relationships have numerous benefits, including better morale, attendance, and grades. 1

Healthy Relationships

Good or bad, relationships are inevitable. We have many different kinds of relationships with many different people in our lives. Whether with friends, family members, boyfriends/girlfriends, partners, acquaintances, roommates, or coworkers, it is important to know how to have a healthy relationship. Healthy relationships help us to feel good about ourselves, improve our emotional health, and fulfill a need for connection and intimacy. Positive relationships can also enhance our daily activities involving education, career, and leisure. Relationships can be confusing and stressful, but there is assistance. Click on the links below for information provided by the Healthy Boundaries Program. For additional questions, concerns, or support please contact Lieutenant Johnson University of Toledo Police Department at 419-530-2158. Healthy Boundaries Program Good relationships are based on RESPECT and EQUALITY. Everyone deserves to be treated with DIGNITY. Your Dating Rights What Love Is, What Love is Not Relationship Contract What I need to know about a partner before I get into a relationship 6 Easy Steps to Healthy Communication Messages that mean “no” What is Consent? Which side describes your relationship? Check your relationship Warning Signs Four things you really need to know when you might be in an abusive relationship If someone is hurting you where to go for help

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Good Relationships are based on RESPECT and EQUALITY. Everyone deserves to be treated with DIGNITY. A Woman in a Healthy Relationship is Someone Who:  Is willing and able to make decisions about her activities, her future, and her family.  Speaks her mind in a relationship.  Refuses to do things that are uncomfortable.  Expects people to treat her with respect and affection even when they are angry or disappointed.  Expects an equal relationship where partners take turns giving and getting from each other.  Expects that any and all sexual behavior is consensual.  Knows that destructive relationships hurt her self-esteem and mental and physical well-being.  Knows that any violence is unacceptable.

A Man in a Healthy Relationship is Someone Who:  Respects others and does not try to control them.  Participates in discussions and negotiations and does not feel threatened when his partner voices opinions that are different from his own.  Compromises and realizes that he does not loose power or status if his way is not followed.  Does not resort to threats, insults or violence to get his way.  Knows that “no” means no and does not force sexual contact.  Can confront feelings of anger and frustration without taking them out on someone else.  Knows that it is ok to feel sad and cry when overwhelmed with emotions.  Recognized that he may be physically stronger than others, but does not use that strength to hurt.  Accepts an equal share of the responsibility needed to keep a relationship healthy.  Accepts when a relationship ends, and does not feel the need through power and control to keep the relationship going.  Knows that any violence is unacceptable.

I have the right to refuse a date without feeling guilty and being called names. I have the right to ask for a date without feeling devastated if the answer is “no”. I have the right to choose to go somewhere alone without having to pair up with someone. I have the right to invite a friend on a first date. I have the right not to be “macho” or “seductive”. I have the right to say “no” to physical closeness. I have the right to say, “I want to get to know you better before I become more involved.” I have the right to say, “I do not want to be in this relationship anymore.” I have the right not to be abused physically, sexually, or emotionally. I have the right to change my goals whenever I want. I have the right to have friends and space aside from my relationship. I have the right to suggest activities. I have the right to refuse any activities, even if my date is excited about them. I have the right to have my own feelings and express them. I have the right to say “I think my partner’s information is wrong or his/her actions are unfair or inappropriate. I have the right to have my limits and values respected. I have the right to be heard. I have the right to refuse to lend money. I have the right to not have the role of completing my partner. I have the right to refuse sex with anyone for any reason. I have the right to not change for anyone but myself.

To express your opinions and have them respected. To have your needs be just as important as your partner’s needs. To grow as an individual, in your own way, at your own pace. To change your mind at any time. Not take responsibility for your partner’s behavior. Not to be physically, emotionally, or sexually abused. To break up and fall out of love with someone and not be threatened. To determine my limits and values. To respect the limits and values of others. To communicate clearly and honestly. To ask for help when I need it. To be considerate. To check my actions/decisions to determine if they are good for me or bad for me; to set high goals. To have an equal relationship. You always have the right to be safe.

Source: Dating Violence: An Anti-Victimization Program, Texas Council on Family Violence and The Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc. and Sojourner-House Dating Violence Program.

Relationship Contract This “Contract” is to help you identify what you want in your close relationships. Two people in a relationship can use this contract to understand what each person wants and where they have disagreement. Write your answers down and, if you want to, compare answers with your boyfriend or girlfriend. An alternative is to discuss comparisons with a non-judgmental or neutral supportive individual. Dating 1. Should every weekend and evening be spent with your girlfriend/boyfriend? 2. Who decides what to do and where to go on a date? 3. What about expenses? Should one person always be expected to pay? 4. If your date always pays for expenses, are you obligated to go along with his or her sexual advances? 5. How do you feel about your date using alcohol or drugs? 6. Is there any situation in which it would be okay for your date to push you around? To hit you? To call you names? 7. If this relationship does not work out can you agree to end the relationship without the threat of violence, emotional pressure, or intimidation? Can this be accomplished no matter the length of time and commitment put into the relationship? Sexual Rights 1. Are both people free to say that they do or do not want to go any further sexually? 2. At what point may a person refuse to have sex? 3. If both you and another person agree to have sex, whose responsibility is it to use birth control? To protect against AIDS? To Protect against STD’s? Other Relationships 1. Are you or your boyfriend/girlfriend free to have intimate relationships or friendships with other people? If so how will you deal with jealousy? 2. Do you include each other in those relationships or friendships or can they be separate? Priorities 1. What qualities are most important to you in a boyfriend/girlfriend? 2. What do you consider the most important ingredients in a relationship?

What I Need To Know About A Partner Before I Get Into A Relationship 1. Amount of time spent with family? 2. His/her parent’s relationship? 3. Ways the family handles disagreements? 4. Feelings toward mother and father? 5. Wants me to make all the decisions? 6. Ways he/she handles anger? 7. Physical, sexual or psychological abuse in the family? 8. How does he/she act with younger children? With pets? 9. Previous relationships and what happened? 10. Compatible values? 11. Words consistent with actions? 12. Ethical behavior toward others? 13. Expresses feelings openly? 14. Acts controlling, possessive, extremely jealous? 15. Opinions about everything I do? 16. Frequently criticizes and tells me how to dress or act? 17. Have other interests and friends? 18. Has a social support system? 19. Abuses alcohol and drugs? 20. History of trouble with the law? 21. Ideas about sex compatible with mine? 22. Wants to make all the decisions; answers questions for me?

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6 Easy Steps to Healthy Communication 1. Make Some Rules Before Having A Difficult Conversation:  No physical contact unless one asks for it (“Will you hold my hand as we talk?”)  No raising of voices. That would not help either of you get your points across.  Pick a neutral setting to minimize power differences.  Agree to take a “time out” or continue on another day if the conversation gets too difficult. 2. Practice Active Listening:  Start by making eye contact; this lets the other person “see” that you are listening.  Use techniques such as head nods or brief verbal affirmations to let the other person know that you have heard and understood.  Try hard not to interrupt the other person when she/he is speaking. 3. Use “I” Statements:  Try hard, especially when in an argument, to begin your sentences with “I...”  Statements beginning with “you,” like, “you make me so mad...” or “you are always...” put the other person on the defensive, and do not encourage healthy communication.  Start with how you feel (“I feel angry”) and then add the reason (“when you [describe the problem], because...”). You will still get your point across, but in a less threatening manner. 4. Take Turns Talking:  Everyone needs, and deserves, a chance to speak.  “Speaking Stick”: Pick any object together and allow only the person who is holding it to speak. When that person is done speaking, she/he passes the object to the next person, and that person talks. At the end of the conversation, decide together what to do with the object. 5. Learn About the Other Person’s Point of View:  Everyone is different; we each think differently, and we each have different perceptions, experiences, and goals. How does the other person see/understand the situation?  Strive to find out about these differences with your conversation partner.  Agree to disagree. Maybe you can not see eye-to eye all of the time. That is okay. 6. Use Non-Verbal Communication:  Most communication between people is non-verbal. That means that body language speaks louder than words. Try to have your body language match your verbal messages. Source: Sojourner-House Dating violence Program, www.sojourner-house.org

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Messages That Mean “NO” Sometimes people have a difficult time directly saying that they do not want sex. NO MEANS NO, but sometimes people will say or do things that mean NO without actually saying NO. This can be confusing to the other person. We often do not understand that when a person says “I don’t feel like it,” that means NO. When there is the slightest doubt about whether a person is comfortable with your sexual advances, you must ask them what they are feeling and then respect their limits. Otherwise, you are pressuring them to do something against their will, and you could be running the risk of committing rape. “NO” Messages  “I don’t feel like it”  “I don’t know”  “I’m confused”  “Lets take our time  “I know we’ve done this before but I don’t want to now”  “I only do it with people I really care about”  I don’t know you well enough.”  “I don’t want to get pregnant”  “I don’t want to do more than petting”  “I don’t know that I like you that much”

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“I think I have had too much to drink” “I’m not ready” “Please!” “Maybe” “I’m scared” “I don’t like this” “It’s getting late” “I need to go home” “I don’t want to go all the way” “I don’t feel good about this” “I don’t want to get pregnant” “I don’t want to get AIDS”

Actions that mean “NO”  Looking down  Cringing  Moving away  Crying  Avoiding being alone with you  Reluctance to get into your car At any point in a sexual encounter a person has the right to stop. It is never too late to say “NO”. There is no such thing as an uncontrollable sex urge, so there are no excuses for not stopping. Remember, when you don’t take no for an answer in any form you are infringing on another person’s rights. Forced sex isn’t really sex. It is a violent crime, even if you know the other person or are out on a date. Rape is illegal and causes lifetime consequences for the survivor (the rape victim). It can also put you in jail for a long time. Some people think that being drunk or high on drugs is an excuse for rape. But the truth is that drugs and alcohol do not take away your ability to control your behavior. If you claim you were out of control, you are just making an excuse. You are always responsible for your behavior. Getting a person drunk or high in order to have sex is also unacceptable. It does not lessen the responsibility of the offender, who is taking advantage of the person’s inability to defend themselves and set limits. Using someone for sex is wrong. Source: Expect Respect: A Support Group Curriculum for Safe and Healthy Relationships, Safe Place, PO Box 19454 Austin, TX 78760 and Preventing Dating Violence, Dating Violence Intervention Project, PO Box 530 Cambridge MA 02238

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What is Consent?   

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Consent is based on choice. Consent is active, not passive. Consent is possible only when there is equal power between the person who ask for it and the person who gives it. Giving in because of fear or embarrassment is not consent. You always have the right to say “no” and you always have the right to have your answer respected and accepted. If you say “yes” and then change your mind and say so, you have removed your consent. You have the right to change your mind. Deception, manipulation, or incapacitation eliminates the possibility of consent. If you can not say “no” comfortably, then “yes” has no meaning. If you are unwilling to accept “no,” then “yes” has no meaning. Consent means to give your permission by saying “yes.” Giggling, changing the subject, or squirming away does not communicate a “yes” or a “no,” and is not consent. To give your permission, you must be able to say “yes” or “no” without pressure. If someone gets you to do something through lying or coercion, you did not give consent, because that person tricked you.

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Check Your Relationship If you think you or someone you know might be in an abusive relationship, but are not sure, read over and try to answer the following questions. 1. Can you name at least five characteristics of your partner that you really admire and like? 2. Is your partner glad that you have other friends? 3. Does your partner ask for your opinion and respect it? 4. Do you consider your partner a friend? 5. Do you “act like yourself” when you are with your partner? 6. Does your partner check up on you or want you to say where you’ve been after you’ve been apart? 7. Have you ever seen your partner throw, hit, or break things when angry? 8. Does your partner ever pressure you for sex? 9. Does your partner ever put you down, either when you are alone or when you are out together? 10. Are you ever frightened by our partner’s temper? 11. Do you ever find yourself apologizing for your partner’s behavior? 12. Has your partner ever done or said anything to you that made you fear for your own safety, the safety of your child or a pet, or someone else’s safety? 13. Take some time to explore the following specific questions about your relationship. Do you: 14. Arrive late or miss work frequently? 15. Get excessive telephone calls at home or work from your partner? 16. Find it hard to get or keep a job or go to school? 17. Get stopped from taking medication you need or seeking medical help? 18. Feel afraid at home? 19. Get threatened with violence? 20. Ever get hit, kicked, or shoved? 21. Feel that you have no choice about how you spend your time, where you go, or what you wear? 22. Ask your partner for permission to make everyday decisions?

23. Feel bad about yourself because your partner calls you names, insults you, or puts your down? 24. Submit to sexual intercourse or engage in sexual acts against your will? 25. Accept your partner’s decisions because you are afraid of his/her anger? 26. Change your behavior because you are afraid of the consequences of a fight? 27. Have limited access to money, bankbooks, checkbooks, financial statements, birth certificates, and passports? 28. Limit your time with your friends, relatives, neighbors, or co-workers because of your partner’s demands or criticism of them? 29. Get accused unjustly of flirting with others or having affairs? 30. Ever get stopped from leaving the house? Additionally: 31. Do arguments with your partner often end with someone being physically hurt? 32. Have you been injured during these fights? 33. Do you avoid your partner’s anger to keep from making things worse? 34. Does your partner destroy things you care about such as pets, family photos, or clothes? 35. Does your partner ever threaten to hurt you when you disagree? 36. Do you have to ask permission for almost everything you do? 37. Does your partner often put you down? 38. Are you starting to believe what your partner says about you? 39. Have you ever been made to have sex when or in ways that you didn’t want? 40. Are you prevented from seeing your friends or family, from getting a job, or from continuing your education? 41. Do you feel isolated or alone? 42. Are you afraid to tell anyone the truth about what is happening to you?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions you “may” be in an abusive relationship. This is NOT your fault. You are NOT responsible for your partner’s behavior. If you can, reach out to family, friends, or a trustworthy member of your community who can help give you the support you need.

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Warning Signs This list identifies a series of behaviors typically demonstrated by batterers and abusive people. All of these forms of abuse – psychological, economic, and physical – come from the batterer’s desire for power and control. The list can help you recognize if you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship. Emotional and Economic Attacks 1. Destructive Criticism/Verbal Attacks: Name-calling, mocking, accusing, blaming, yelling, swearing, and making humiliating remarks or gestures. 2. Pressure Tactics: Rushing you to make decisions through “guilt-tripping” and other forms of intimidating, sulking, threatening to withhold money, manipulating the children, telling you what to do. 3. Abusing Authority: Always claiming to be right (insisting statements are “the truth”), telling you what to do, and making big decisions using “logic.” 4. Disrespect: Interrupting, changing topics, not listening or responding, twisting your words, putting you down in front of other people, saying bad things about your friends and family. 5. Abusing Trust: Lying, withholding information, cheating on you, being overly jealous. 6. Emotional Withholding: Not expressing feelings, not giving support, attention, or compliments; not respecting feelings, rights, or opinion. 7. Minimizing, Denying & Blaming: Making light of behavior and not taking your concerns about it seriously, saying the abuse didn’t happen, shifting responsibility for abusive behavior, saying you asked for it or caused it. 8. Economic Control: Interfering with your work or not letting you work, refusing to give you or taking your money, taking your car keys or otherwise preventing your from using the car, threatening to report you to welfare or other social service agencies. 9. Self-Destructive Behavior: Abusing drugs or alcohol, threatening suicide or other forms of self-harm, deliberately saying or doing things that will have negative consequences (e.g. telling off the boss). 10. Isolation: Preventing or making it difficult for you to see friends or relatives, monitoring phone calls, telling you where you can and can’t go. 11. Harassment: Making uninvited visits or calls, following you, checking up on you, embarrassing you in public, refusing to leave when asked. Acts of Violence 12. Intimidation: Making angry or threatening gestures, using physical size to intimidate, standing in the door way during arguments, out shouting you, driving recklessly. 13. Destruction: Destroying your possessions (e.g. furniture or clothes), punching walls, throwing and/or breaking things. 14. Threats: Making and/or carrying out threats to hurt you or others. 15. Sexual Violence: Degrading treatment or discrimination based on your sex or sexual orientation; using force, threats, or coercion to obtain sex or perform sexual acts. 16. Physical Violence: Being violent to you, your children, household pets or others; slapping, punching, grabbing, kicking, choking, pushing, biting, burning, stabbing, shooting, etc. 17. Weapons: Using weapons, keeping weapons around which frighten you, threatening or attempting to kill you or those you love. Source: Sojourner-House Dating violence Program, www.sojourner-house.org

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Four Things You Really Need to Know When You Might Be in an Abusive Relationship You are not alone. Our society often glorifies violence (in movies, TV, books), but looks the other way when people we know become victims of violence or abuse, especially victims of interpersonal or sexual violence. Many people are so ashamed of being battered or otherwise abused that they will not tell even their closest friends what is happening to them. Abusive people often isolate victims, or threaten harm if anyone is told. It is easy to think that you are the only person in an abusive relationship. But there are many among us who are dealing with abuse. The abuse is not your fault. Everyone’s heard the phrases, “You made me do it,” or “you pressed my buttons,” or “You need to learn whose boss.” All too often an abuser will blame the victims for the abuse. The guilt trips and blame placed on victims of abuse are a tremendous burden, and cause low self-esteem and poor self-image (after all, if someone puts you down all the time, you may start to believe it). Abusers are always responsible for their decisions and actions. Abuse is never the victim’s fault. If it feels scary, it’s abuse. If someone touches you in a personal way that feels scary or bad or wrong to you, then it is abuse. If someone tries to make you do something you do not feel comfortable doing, even after you say so, then it is abuse. If someone tells you that you are stupid or childish or worthless because you would not do something they want you to do, then it is abuse. Abuse is always about the other person’s need to control you. You have the right not to be abused. Get some help and support for yourself. Let’s face it; there is a lot of pressure on each of us to be in a relationship. We socialize together in groups, and hang out in couples, and sometimes we put pressure on other people or on ourselves to be in a relationship... as though we are not okay if we are single. That’s wrong. Abusive relationships are not healthy. They stress us out. They take our energies away from ourselves and other people who we love. If you think you might be abused, talk about it with someone you trust – a family member, a friend.

If someone is Hurting You  Understand that you are not responsible for your partner’s abusive behavior.  Understand that the violence almost always gets worse, even if there are “good times” in between, and it rarely ever stops on its own.  Talk to someone who understands and supports you.  Call 911 in an emergency. You have the same rights to protection from violence as anyone else.